Accused in the sexual assault case of a 10-year-old in Kasaragod, Andhra Pradesh

Kasaragod: Police on Friday arrested the accused who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl in Kanhangad over a week ago. The accused, a 35-year-old native of Coorg, was taken into custody in Andhra Pradesh.

According to reports, a call made by the accused at home was crucial in his search. Since the accused did not use his phone often, the police had difficulty tracing his whereabouts. However, when they came to know that he was in Andhra Pradesh, a team headed to the state and nabbed him. He is scheduled to be brought back to Kanhangad around 8 pm.

Five days after the crime, the police received crucial information about the accused. The accused has lived in the neighborhood for many years. But on May 15, he suddenly left his house. His sudden disappearance aroused police suspicion. Further investigations allegedly confirmed his role in the crime. The police also received video footage showing the accused’s face.

According to police, the accused married from Kanhangad and moved here 14 years ago. They said he knew the survivors’ house. “He is an accused in another POCSO case registered at Melparambu police station two years ago. He molested a 14-year-old girl, who is related to him. In that case, he drove the girl on his scooter to Adoor forest area and raped her. He was remanded for three months in that case. There are also cases of chain snatching against him in Sullia and Coorg stations,” police said.

The case
The 10-year-old girl, who was sleeping in her house, was kidnapped and sexually assaulted on May 15. She was found abandoned in a nearby paddy field in the early hours of Wednesday. The girl was allegedly abducted from a hamlet under the jurisdiction of Hosdurg police station here. According to the girl’s family members, she was abducted from her grandfather’s room after he left the house to milk his cows around 3 am. When he returned after some time, she was missing from the bed. They said the grandfather always went out after closing the door but never locked it. The other family members, including the victim’s father, mother and sister, slept in another room in the same house, they said.

The unfortunate girl, who was abandoned in a paddy field, knocked on the door of a nearby house and called her father from a local resident’s phone. Her family quoted the girl as saying that an unknown man took her out of the house and threatened to kill her if she raised an alarm. “Her earrings were missing… She said the culprit spoke Malayalam,” a family member told the media. Based on her complaint, the police registered a case and launched a manhunt to trace the accused.